Jan. 24, 2026

Medicare cuts are destroying independent rural medical practices

Saravanan Kasthuri, medical director at Northwest Endovascular Surgery, and Jason McKitrick, executive director at the Office Based Facility Association, discuss their article "Medicare payment is failing rural health." Saravanan and Jason analyze the critical economic forces dismantling independent medical practices and threatening patient access in underserved areas. They highlight the personal story of Mr. G to illustrate the human cost of broken reimbursement models while explaining how the outdated Physician Fee Schedule forces doctors to sell to hospitals or private equity firms. The conversation details how consolidation inflates costs without improving quality and proposes the implementation of a technical fee schedule as a vital policy solution. Listen to understand why preserving office-based care is essential for the survival of the rural health care system.

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